SOLDIER SETTLEMENTS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 233, 14 September 1934, Page 5

SOLDIER SETTLEMENTS

Ex-Owners Warned

OBTAINING OF CLEARANCES

A warning that cx-sorvicemcu who have had to abandon farm or house properties bought under the Discharged Soldiers’ Settlement Act should obtain a clearance from the Lands Department was given by Colonel H. Holderncss and Mr. V. A. Thomson at the Hastings S S.A. reunion last evening. The matter was first mentioned by Mr. Thomson, who quoted from a circular which was sent out recently by tho N.Z.R.S.A. headquarters, and which described the obtaining of a clearance as being of extreme importance. Colonel Holderncss, in answer to a questioner, cxplauied that though the. circular referred to farm properties only, the warning applied to purchases of dwellings as well. The clearances took some time to obtain, said the circular, and eould not be obtained in a hurry. Delay in applying made tho matter more difficult, and further Crown selection could not be made until a clearance was given. If, not having obtained a clearance, a soldier received some substantial sum of money in later years, the AuditorGeneral was bound by stringent provisions to call upon tho cx-scrviceinnn to contribute towards the losses ou the iarin or house property. A bankrupt should apply for a clearsoon at possible, and the Lands Department was anxious to facilitate clearances in genuine eases.